Antitrust in Theory and Practice: Mergers & Acquisitions

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Spring 2006

Hanno F. Kaiser

Syllabus

Week

Topic

Textbook

1, 2

The anatomy of a merger. Why do companies merge? Why do so many mergers fail? The core questions of antitrust law: coordination and exclusion. (Case studies: Boeing McDonnell Douglas, AOL/Time Warner).

FTC v. Arch Coal (2004). The state of coordinated effects analysis. Evidence in antitrust cases, or "hot documents and cold economics." Pitfalls in dealing with the DOJ/FTC and a roadmap for client communications.

Textbook: A. Gavil, W. Kovacic, and J. Baker, Antitrust Law in Perspective: Cases, Concepts and Problems in Competition Policy, West (2002). (This is by far the best contemporary textbook on antitrust in general.)